Jyoti Pilates Blog

St Margarets House

Saturday 3rd August 2019 11.30am - 1.30pm  £20

Fascia is the system of connective tissue that runs in continuous chains and spirals throughout the body, binding and separating organs, muscles and bones, and helping to create tensegrity.  When we move, the kinetic energy created is captured and recoiled with elastic force to enable a return movement that is relaxed, graceful and efficient. But if the fascia is tight or ‘stuck', or we are out of alignment, we lose that benefit, and this free movement is compromised. 

This workshop will explore different ways to release the fascia, and ease muscle tension, using small equipment and your hands, and incorporating this into pilates exercises.  We will begin with the feet, as pain and dysfunction in the knees, hips, pelvis, spine, shoulders or neck may originate in dysfunction or lack of mobility at foot level, which can also block free and efficient movement.  

Your feet have the potential for great flexibility, and the fascia tissue of the feet has many sensory receptors which can give your body so much feedback about your environment and where your body is in space, which impacts on how you move. By stimulating an area, we enable better communication between it and the brain, and this is particularly helpful for the feet, as they tend to spend alot of time in rigid shoes, walking on flat, hard surfaces, which makes them inflexible and unable to fully utilise this sensory system. 

We will work up the body, addressing tension in legs, hips, glutes, lower and upper back, shoulders and finally neck, which will allow you to find correct alignment more easily. This alignment will be of relevance in the last part of the workshop where we will explore your walking or gait technique, and how you can access the benefit of the recoil system of the fascia, for more efficient and easy movement, allowing you to float out of the class! 

This workshop is suitable for all levels of abilities.

Workshop Saturday 6th October 11am - 1pm

St Margarets House, £20

Our feet work so hard for us on a daily basis, but they can be one of the most neglected areas of our bodies, barely even given a second thought; that is until pain occurs. What is your relationship with your feet? Do you even like them, look at them, let alone give them the attention and credit that they deserve? Or do you just quickly stuff them into socks and shoes and go on your way?

Your feet are an incredible feat (no pun intended!) of engineering; complex, delicate and strong. Not only do they have the ability for great flexibility, but they can give your body so much sensory feedback about your environment and relationship to the earth, which impacts on how you move. But if you spend most of your time in rigid shoes walking on flat, hard man made surfaces you can never allow your feet to achieve their full potential.

But it obviously isn’t only about your feet – that is just where it all begins. Your whole body can’t move freely and efficiently if your feet aren’t moving properly. Pain and dysfunction in the knees, hips, pelvis, spine, shoulders or neck may well originate in dysfunction or lack of mobility at foot level.

In this workshop there will be lots of gentle releasing, stretching, mobilising and strengthening of the feet. Then we will explore how our foot position when standing affects the alignment of the whole body, and how this impacts on our movement potential, ability to perform different Pilates exercises effectively, and most importantly on walking. Which leads us to the role of the hips and glutes, so they will getting attention too. You can expect to leave having had a full body workout and given your feet some much needed TLC, and with a programme to follow to slowly and safely build up to more barefoot time. The rest of your body will be grateful too! Suitable for all levels of ability.